Meet Brendan Hansen on Saturday June 27th

15062009

Brendan Hansen will be at the D&J Sports Summer Tent Sale in Dallas on Saturday June 27th from 1-4pm. He will be promoting the PureSport™ Nutritional Performance Sports Drinks with Protein. Human Performance Labs (HPL) develops superior nutritional performance sports drinks with protein for athletes of all types, from world class professionals to club sport amateurs and weekend warriors. Created by Dr. John Ivy, renowned Chairman of Health and Kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin, PureSport Workout and PureSport Recovery formulas (patent pending) nutritionally enhance the human body’s performance during and after strenuous athletic activity.

Background of Brendan Hansen:

Brendan Hansen was born on August 15, 1981 in Philadelphia, PA. Brendan began swimming at the age of 5; very young, like most of the world’s elite swimmers. When he was as young as 12, Brendan commanded the attention of all those who watched him swim. They would talk. They would watch closely. They knew they were seeing something special when he swam. Brendan was aware of the extra attention and embraced it as he continued to impress. By the time he was a freshman in high school he had already won his first state championship. The hype only built from there on out.

While swimming in high school, Brendan dominated the 100 Breast; winning the state championship all for of his high school years. Brendan’s list of accolades are nearly endless. High school All-American honors. National Age Grounp records. A national championship in the 200 Breast in 1999. All leading Brendan to the national and international ranks of the swimming world.

Brendan graduated from Haverford High School in 2000, and set his sights on competing in his first Olympic Trials. He finished 3rd in both the 100 and 200 Breast events, narrowly missing an Olympic birth. But Brendan was not discouraged. He used the events as both a learning experience and motivation for the future. His times at the Olympic Trials were personal bests and spoke volumes to his previous training and potential in the future. Brendan was already looking forward to starting the next stage of his life: NCAA competition at the University of Texas. After all, he had to do his part to defend their national championship.

During his first season swimming for the UT Longhorns, Brendan made his presence well-known. He won four NCAA titles (two individual, two relay) and four NCAA All-America honors at the NCAA Championships that year. Pretty impressive for a freshman!

Brendan continued to excel at the collegiate, but was also making a name for himself both nationally and internationally. The next year, in 2001, he broke the 200 Breast American Record at spring nationals and at the World Championships, Brendan won his first international medal by winning the 200 Breast.

The honors, records, and impressive times continued throughout the next few years. After Brendan’s final year of college eligibility (2004) he turned pro to prepare for the 2004 Olympic Trials. But before he did so he became the third man in history to accomplish a career sweep in two events (100 & 200 Breast) at the collegiate level. Brendan concluded his college swimming career with 13 total NCAA titles. His other honors, while swimming for the University of Texas, included NCAA All-American, Big 12 Conference Swimmer of of the Year, Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year, plus countless meet and pool records.

The Olympic Trials, in the summer of 2004, were far from a repeat of the 2000 event. Brendan not only qualified for the Athens Olympics in both the 100 and 200 Breast, but he set new world records in both events. This definitely was Brendan’s breakout year!

In Athens, Brendan collected medal of each variety in each of his events. He won a silver medal 100 Breast, a bronze in the 200 Breast, and a gold in the world-record setting 400 Medley Relay. Two months after Athens, Brendan competed in the Short Course World Championships and came away from that meet with 4 gold medals (50, 100, 200 Breast and 400 Medley Relay).

Even after all the success of 2004 and 2008, Brendan Hansen is still hungry and looks to 2009 and beyond to prove that he is the best breaststroker in the world.